Under The Shadows
by Girl of the Graveyard
Summary: When Valerie decides to give Phantom a chance, it seems just out of irony that she has to do a biography on a family called the Fentons. She also learns that Phantom is tied to this family in more ways than one and that he has some dark secrets of his own
1. Torn Together

A/N: kay, so basicly, Danny is still Phantom of course but he's full ghost. He was Danny _Fenton _before he died. Maddie, Jack and Jazz still exist, but Val dosen't know them and she didn't know Danny Before he died. I hope I didn't confuse anyone. And BTW, the _slant_ words mean their thoughts.

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Chapter One

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Valerie Gray- Entry log #36

You know, I don't think I give Phantom enough credit for me becoming a ghost hunter. I sometimes think of where I'd be if it weren't for him causing so much havoc in my life. Probably still a stuck- up preppie, still hanging with Paulina. Shivers. It's scary to think about. So, I decided to give him a chance…

"Valerie, time to leave!" her dad called from the kitchen

"Be out in a minute!" she called back

Let's hope it's worth it…

She clicked save and turned off her computer. She grabbed her jet sled and backpack and headed out into the kitchen where her dad was making coffee.

"Honey, I have to work late tonight…will you be okay with that?" he asked

"Yeah, I'll be fine", she replied.

Her watch beeped, signaling it was time for her to leave for school. She gave her dad a kiss on the cheek.

"See you later", she said, "love you".

"Bye honey, travel safely", he replied.

"You too!" she called already halfway out the door.

Putting her keys in her pocket and her backpack over her shoulder, she walked down a flight of stairs, out the apartment building doors, and finally outside. Today was a very clear, spring day. The sun, after months behind the clouds, seemed all too eager to show its face to the world again. Valerie breathed in a few lung fills of fresh air, before then, walking into the alley next to the apartment building she had just exited from, and easily switching into her ghost hunting suit. Afterwards, she jumped onto her jet sled and took of from the ground; the cool breeze kissing her face.

While flying, she always liked to take in the views below. The little waving children, the Nasty Burger, all the lawyers and office people dressed in their suits for business; it really gave her perspective of what a 'birds eye view' truly meant.

But not long into her flight, something clipped the front of her sled, sending her colliding to the ground. Luckily, she was over the park, and the grass somewhat cushioned her fall, more than concrete would have.

She skidded to a stop, but painfully hitting a tree on the way. She laid there for a few moments, clutching her side. _That will definitely leave a bruise._

She studied herself up onto her feet, glancing around in search for what had hit her, if it hadn't disappeared yet.

To her shock she saw Phantom sitting on the ground a few yards away holding the side of his head. She could already see green blood oozing out from underneath his hand and onto his snow white hair. He turned in her direction, finally realizing she had been what he hit. He got up, pain etching itself across his pale face, and jogged towards her.

"You alright?" he asked

"I only hit a tree and the ground, so yeah, I'll be fine", she replied sarcastically.

He had a guilty look on his face now. "I'm so sorry, I didn't do it on purpose, I swear".

She smiled, "Don't worry I'm not going to sue you".

He smiled in reply, obvious relief replacing the guilt across his face.

Valerie frowned suddenly after she saw the gash on the side of his head, it looked much worse close up. But as she looked down she saw he had scrapes on his arms and legs. His black and white suit was pretty damaged, and there looked like a claw mark across his chest.

"Um, were you in a fight with something?" she asked, even though the answer was quite apparent.

"Yeah, with a ghost wolf", he replied, "I didn't win".

"I see that", she said.

Phantom looked like he had been through hell and back again, and he was more concerned with her welfare than his own. This made a flow of unknown sympathy run through her. His eyes, that used to shine, were now dull. He had dark circles under his eyes that made it seem like that he hadn't gotten sleep in weeks. His hair was also dull a messy, and he seemed skinnier than usual.

"You're a mess", she told him.

"Thanks, you're kind of cute yourself", he replied playfully.

She rolled her eyes, blushing slightly. He noticed the sudden scarlet across her cheeks.

_Stupid traitor hormones._

Suddenly, they heard a low deep growl come from the dark forest beside them.

"Oh, no", he whispered.

"What?" she asked, also in a whisper.

"The wolf, it's back".

They stood very still and silent, when then, they saw two red eyes glaring back at them.

"You might want to run", he suggested.

She usually would have been to stubborn to accept his advice, but just because she was at times stubborn, it didn't mean she was stupid. She grabbed he jet sled and waited overhead of him.

When the ghost wolf finally did appear, it instead, leaped at Valerie, obviously wanting more of a challenge in terms of prey. And beings it had already dealt with Phantom and made him weak, Valerie was its new target.

But just as it jumped, Phantom saw his chance and fired, hitting the wolf square in the stomach.

The blast sent the wolf hurtling to the ground. But as if nothing had happened, it quickly recovered and jumped at Phantom eager to finish him off.

It grabbed him around the throat, forcing him to the ground. Valerie now found her chance and shot a net, its force knocking the wolf of Phantom. The net and the wolf disappeared once they hit the ground.

"Nice trick", he said getting up off the ground…again.

She spun it around her finger and flipped it back into her holster, "thanks".

"Thought you would have enjoyed to see me destroyed", he said rubbing his neck.

"Yeah well, I decided I would give you a chance", she replied through her teeth. This would take some getting used to.

"Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Valerie", he asked sarcastically.

"Ha, ha, very funny", she said.

He grinned.

Valerie checked her watch, "Crud I'm late for school again", she said, "I guess I'll see you later", she started to fly away.

"Hey!" he yelled.

She stopped and looked back at him.

"Thanks", he said seriously.

She shrugged, smiling.

"No really…thank you".

"Anytime," she replied, "See you later…Danny". She grinned and then flew off.

He smiled lightly, though he was so stunned he was surprised he could find humor in anything. "Maybe today will be a good day", he said quietly to himself.

He then flew away as well…To his waiting sanctuary.

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Please Read and Review... please and thank you !!! No flames...


	2. Heavy Questions

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Chapter Two

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(Valerie P.O.V)

As I sat there in English class, I thought about Phantom. I recounted the images in my mind about how he had looked this morning. All in all he looked completely awful. Was he unable to heal himself? Or maybe he was just exhausted from his ghost fight with the wolf? It puzzled me. I stared off into space, not realizing that my teacher was talking to me.

"Valerie!" Mrs. Eclo yelled.

My eyes found hers, and hers were growing impatient.

"Would it be much trouble for you to pay attention for ten more minutes?" She asked as a rhetorical question.

I shrugged as an unneeded reply. And she sighed to my response.

"Anyway, we will now be starting our biographies on Amity Parks 'well known people'. I will be assigning each of you either a person or even a family and you will need to find as much research as you can on them." She started to hand out papers.

When she reached me, she had a smug look.

"Considering that you are very interested in ghosts and such, I will assign you a family that you should find most interesting".

She handed me a small paper. On it were the requirements for the project. Pictures and a four page essay. It went on to say about how we would be graded, the due date, and so on.

And finally at the end of the page was the name of the family I would be doing my report on…

**The Fenton's**

I was confused at Mrs. Eclo's words of _'ghosts and such'._ What was that supposed to mean? I continued to stare at the name written on the paper, it now feeling heavy in my hands.

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(A/N:) Okay, so I know that it's very short but I just had to post something. After I re-read the reviews I felt guilty about not updating. But I will cross my fingers and hope that the next chapter will much more decent (I advise you to do the same). And if anybody has ideas, please TELL ME! This is why it's taking so long, I have no plot for this story. This is why I shouldn't do on-the-spot stories. But for this chapter I will alow constructive critisism. R&R

Cori


	3. In All The Wrong Places

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of its characters. I don't own Google.

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Chapter Three

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After school I continued to think of the name on the page. **Fenton** was not a name I could remember hearing. So the reason that they would be considered a 'well known' family was something I found questioning. By the time I reached home, after a rather dull parade of ghost hunting, that excluded any actual finding of ghosts, it was almost dark.

I knew my dad wouldn't be home until later that night, so I ordered take out. Something I didn't do often, considering that I had to stay in shape for ghost fighting.

As I waited for the food to come, I decided to go on the computer to see if I could find anything about the Fentons. I typed the name into Google, but after an hour or two of constant random websites I still had no luck finding any information about a family in Amity Park with their name. I growled in frustration and munched some more on my take out.

_Tomorrow I can check out the school library. _I thought to myself, as I switched off my computer.

I rubbed my sore arms from the ghost fight earlier this morning. I wondered how Phantom felt, and some more of the unknown sympathy flowed through me. I quickly dismissed the feeling. It was so strange to feel anything for a ghost. But I swore that I would _try_ to be kind to Phantom, and that's exactly what I was going to do . . . _try_.

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After a slow morning, lunch finally came, not a second too soon. Instead of flowing with the crowd to the cafeteria, I pushed my way through it to reach the library. People protested, and gave me dirty looks, and I thought that I had stepped on a few peoples toes. As I at last blasted my way through the library entrance, the librarian gave me a puzzled look. I quickly walked to the counter where she stood, as she continued to look at me.

"Um, do you have any information about Amity Park history, or its famous people?" I asked her.

She looked at me like I was mentally challenged.

"Of course we do", she replied in a tone that confirmed her expression.

She led me to a bookcase in the back of the library, and I waited as she scanned its shelves. Finally she seemed to have found what she had been looking for.

"These two rows are some of Amity Park's history", she said as she pointed to the two lowest shelves; "And this shelf has some books about its famous people". She pointed to the shelf at waist level.

"Okay, Thanks", I replied dully.

She gave me a dirty look and walked away.

_Someone loves their job_, I thought sarcastically.

Not knowing which to look at first, I grabbed random books off the shelves that she had pointed out. I spent the rest of lunch, and even skipped my next class, to see if I could find something. I looked through each and every book from the three shelves, and I still couldn't find anything on these people!

"Ugh!" I yelled out; A few students looked at me questioningly. I avoided their gazes as I left the library to go to English class. I was starting to think that these people didn't exist. They sure as hell weren't 'Well Known'. I entered the class room before anyone else had, so I took the opportunity to ask Mrs. Eclo about the project she had assigned me. I wanted to see if this was some new joke among the teachers.

She was looking over some papers at her desk when I walked up to her.

"Mrs. Eclo, I had a question about the assignment you gave me", I said as politely as I could.

"No, you cannot trade, change, or otherwise complain about the project I gave you", she replied with an exasperated sigh. Apparently I wasn't the first to confront her about the project.

"No, I just had a question about the family you assigned me to", when she didn't say anything I continued; "I can't seem to find any information of them, I've looked in books and on the internet, they don't seem to be very popular".

I saw her grin; "Perhaps you're looking in the wrong places".

Students started to file into the classroom; Mrs. Eclo got up from her desk, and with her back to me started to write the days assignments on the board. I took it as a dismissal.

I walked to my desk and slumped into my chair.

_Looking in the wrong places? _I thought.

Was this a school project, or a treasure hunt?

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(A/N:) Okay so this isn't exactly an exciting chapter, but it was important to have. I know that it's taken me a long time to update this story. And to be honest I wasn't going to update, but after reading the new reviews (and old) I decided that I would. Thank you to those that have stuck with me! R&R! If I get reviews, I'll try to update again, and soon this time. I did have chapters 3,4, and 5 done, but my computer died and I lost EVERYTHING!


	4. Died To Know You Love Me

(A/N:)- The song inspiration for this chapter was "Missing" by Evanescence. Listen to it if you like, it'll help

you understand the mood in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of its characters.

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Chapter Four

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I sat with my legs hanging over the edge of the nine story building, my bare feet exposed to the slight chill of the air. I wasn't worried about being spotted, not at this height. It was late at night and most of the city had quieted down, the only signs of activity were a few stray cars that passed every few minutes. The whole evening had been unusually quiet of any ghost activity. I figured that it was probably a holiday in the ghost reality. I honestly didn't care either way. I was in need of a break of all of their evil ghost crap.

I looked down at my suit. It was torn so badly I wondered what my skin looked like underneath. It wasn't like it mattered; a ghost couldn't die from injuries. I chuckled darkly at the thought.

I remained in that spot for a few more minutes until I was finally bored. I replaced my boots to my feet, took one last look at the golden, glittering city, and then flew off into any direction I felt the urge to go in. I focused my energy on my speed. Pushing myself to go as fast as I could; fueled by my never ending feeling of frustration.

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By the time I reached the limit of my spare energy, I realized that I had flown across town. To a neighborhood I was quite familiar with. As I floated in the air, about 100 feet from the ground, I cast my vision around, getting an idea of my surroundings.

I quickly grew uninterested in this location. As I was about to fly away, in the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a building that I instantly recognized. I turned my whole body to face it, and easily found the name that I knew and equally hated. . .

Casper High School.

I remembered it as being a hostile place for me. I was constantly the prey of bullies, teachers, gym class and any other misfortune that resided in its halls. But I made myself admit that it had its perks; Like being with my friends on a regular basis.

I debated internally, about the decision that now presented itself; the ending was that my curiosity out won my logic. I flew down to the schools football field and landed on the bleachers, which were wet from the sprinklers. For no reason I started to hop down each of the aluminum benches, a loud bang echoed each time I did so.

I stopped on a bench that had been bent in the middle, probably from a fan during one intense football game. The bending caused water from the sprinklers to create a small pool. Standing a few inches from its edge I could see the reflection of my face and torso. My face was pale, but it wasn't as pale as you would expect on a ghost, I always appeared to have a bit more color. My eyes glowed a vibrant lime green, but they seemed dull and tired to me; they reflected the emotions I felt on the inside. I used to always hear that the eyes were the gateway to the soul; I could understand now where that saying came from. I had always been skinny, but more lanky, and never really athletic, but you could easily see the slight of my muscles under the tight sleeves of my suit. I wasn't buff, but I looked in shape.

As I looked at my face as a whole, it appeared angry, tired, frustrated and sad. My lips seemed pulled down at the corners into a permanent frown. I sneered at the reflection and it did the same back, mocking me. I growled and kicked the water, leaving the once good sized puddle now in droplets.

I walked towards the end of the bench and jumped across the isle to the bench on the other side. But unexpectedly I landed on the slick aluminum at a bad angle, causing my feet to sweep out from under me. I landed on my back hard enough that it added another dent to the bleachers; a roaring bang drummed through the silence from my fall. I lay there for a second to gather myself.

I grunted as I stood up. As the echo of my fall slowly faded away a large cracking noise rang through the air, coming from the small patch of forest beside the football field. My muscles tensed instantly and the back of my neck prickled like the raised hackles of a cautious dog. I gazed over the field and the edge of the trees, looking for any sign of movement. No blue mist emitted from my mouth, but that did not make me relax my posture; I prepared for a fight. When after about a minute had passed and still nothing had appeared, I slowly eased out of my crouching position.

I continued to scan the field as I started walking through the bleachers once more; my whole body was alert. I figured that the loud noises I made had stirred an animal that was among the cluster of trees. But the noise did not seem as if a mere animal had been spooked; it had me to much on edge. I learned the hard way that most cracking noises weren't good.

I sighed and sat down on the only dry part of the bench, and started straightening my boot. I knew that I was probably overreacting. Then another crack sounded, but not quite as loud as the last. I bolted to my feet. Not but 5 second after the crack sounded, a short yell of pain belonging to that of a man, rang out.

I flew quickly but cautiously to the direction where the noises had come from. I went invisible, so that if I were actually being stalked and baited, I would hopefully notice them before they noticed me. Even with the lights from the football field shinning in the direction of the trees, it was still very dark; but it didn't affect me very much. I slowly flew through the trees, listening and looking for anything. Fifteen feet straight ahead I heard scuffling.

As I peered over the last bush that blocked the way I saw a man about the age of 20 and a girl about the age 15 or 16; they were both hitting and pushing each other. I wasn't quite sure who was in fact winning, but I knew automatically who most likely would loose. I wondered why the hell this girl was alone in the middle of the night.

I then watched as the man grabbed her by the hair. He pulled her in half a circle with enough momentum that when he released in the middle of his turn, he sent her crashing into a nearby tree. I then knew that I had to intercede. I turned visible and landed quietly behind the man. The girl saw me before he did, and when I locked eyes with the girl, rage boiled inside of me, threatening to overflow. Before the man could turn to look at me I swiftly knocked his legs out from under him, causing him to hit the ground so hard I heard it knock the wind out of him.

Just out of spite, I gave him a second to recover. Once he started to finally catch his breath, he noticed me looming over him. A glimmer of fear shinned in his eyes, which satisfied me immensely. I picked him up by the hair as he still continued to pant.

"Lets see if you like it", I whispered to him darkly.

I swung him by the hair just like he had done to the girl, who simply stared, fear coating her expression. I kept my strength in check, so that I would hurt him and not kill him. As I let go, he flung 10 feet through the air, and landed against the truck of a tree, when he finally hit the ground he was out cold.

"Too easy", I murmured to myself.

Without waiting, I walked over to the man and by the back of his shirt collar, stomach against the ground, began to drag him towards the football field. Neither stopping nor looking at her, I motioned the girl to follow. She got up from the ground where she had landed, and trailed behind me. As we made our way to the field, a few times I was tempted to drag the man's face in the dirt, but I resisted. I also resisted the urge to look behind me; I knew she was still there by the sound of her heavy footsteps.

As we broke through the last of the trees and into open, my anger at the girl grew. I decided to ask the gnawing question that was the reason for my irritation.

"Why were you alone, in the middle of the night, where there weren't any other people around?" I asked as I continued walking.

I heard her sigh. "I got in a fight with my parents, went for a walk to blow off steam, and decided to take a short cut back home".

"You still should have had someone with you; I mean, do you realize what he _could have done to you_ if I hadn't shown up", I said sternly.

"I can take care of myself", she said just as sternly.

I smirked sarcastically even though she couldn't see. "Yeah it sure seemed that way", I replied.

She didn't reply to that. She knew I was right.

"How did you come across this dumbass?" I continued.

"I didn't realize he was behind me until I was half way through the woods, at first I didn't think anything of it, until I started to run and he chased after me". She said quietly.

"How did he catch up to you?" I asked, confused.

"What else, I tripped".

I raised an eyebrow but otherwise said nothing. I heard her sigh again.

It wasn't until we were half way to the bleachers when I heard the tempo of her footsteps pick up. At first I figured that maybe she had just fallen behind, until I saw her jog past. She stopped in front of me so closely I could feel her warm breath on my cheeks.

Surprised by her closeness, I stepped back an inch or two. I saw that she was shaking slightly; I guessed that it was either from adrenaline, fear or possibly both.

"What?" I asked her harshly when she continued to stare at me in silence.

She glared at me now due to my tone; I rolled my eyes in response. I moved to walk around her, but she grabbed my arm and stepped in front of me. Completely irritated by this point, I dropped the man, none to gently, on the ground.

"Don't make me move you", I said in a quiet, threatening tone.

She shook her head, continuing to glare at me; I glared right back at her.

"What's happened to you?" She asked in more of a rhetorical way.

"I _died_, remember?" I answered anyway.

She scanned my face with her eyes. I thought of the puddle, and I knew what she saw. Sympathy overwhelmed her expression. Unexpectedly, she gently moved a stray lock of white hair from my face.

"Danny—", she softly began to say. I knew what was coming next, and I didn't want to hear it.

"Sam, I don't want to do this, alright?" I said cutting her off.

"Do what, talk to me, is it really that difficult for you?!" She yelled at me.

I kept my face straight, not revealing any unwanted emotion. I simply stared down at her.

I nodded. "Yes", I replied finally.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and I felt a pang of guilt wash over me. I had never known Sam to be _this_ emotional before. It was obvious what had made that change. She continued to dwell in my eyes, like she was looking for the Danny she had lost. It was so intense, that I turned my face away. I suddenly felt the warmth of her hands on my cheeks. I felt them as they gently pulled my face back towards hers; her expression softer now.

Fingers as light as moths wings she traced my cheekbone, down to my jaw, and finally my lips. She moved her hand back up to my cheek. Suddenly she leaned into me, and waited to see if I would finish the gap between us.

All of my logic and reasoning screamed NO at me, and it began to pull me back. But there was something else, something I couldn't identify. It seemed stronger than the logic, and it began to over power all of my reasoning.

And without even coming to a complete decision, I closed the gap between us.

When our lips met, it was like all of my finely built walls crashed to the ground and now exposed all of the emotions I tried to hide behind them. I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground, crushing her body against mine. In response, she moved her hands from my cheeks and instead wrapped her right arm around my neck and tangled her left hand in my hair.

I pulled her even tighter to me, and she did the same. I could feel emotion building up in my chest, and I could feel it about to burst. But regardless, I kissed her with as much love and passion as I could possibly spare. Our lips moved in sync for a while, until finally, my reasoning overtook my emotions once again. I set her down on her feet, and kissed her one final time. Then I started to push her away as softly as I could currently manage.

When she stepped back, she put her head down to conceal her tears from me. Though I knew she had been crying, I could feel the wet of her tears on my face. I lifted her chin, and wiped them with my gloved hand. I tried my best my best to smile for her. But I knew it probably looked as fake as it felt.

"Let me take you home", I said softly.

She nodded.

I took care of the man by tying him to a fence post; I'd come back for him, and we would have a nice little _talk_ before I took him to the police station.

I then flew Sam home; it was a short ride, considering that her house was only a few streets away. We didn't talk, but it felt like we were. Our feelings of sadness seemed to radiate from each other. When we reached our destination, I landed on her bedroom balcony as quietly as I could; last thing I needed was for her parents to wake up. I easily phased through the doors set her down on her bed.

I turned to walk away, but she grabbed my hand.

"Please, stay", she whispered. I bit my bottom lip, unsure. I knew I shouldn't, but I wanted to very much. I really did miss Sam. I sighed.

"Okay," I said finally. "But only until you fall asleep".

She nodded solemnly, knowing that was the best answer she was going to get.

She took her boots off, not bothering to change out of her muddy clothes; she lay down and covered herself with her blanket. I sat down on the floor beside her; my back leaning against the soft bed.

"I have a question", she said after a moment.

"Yes?" I replied softly

"How _did_ you find me?"

"I was sitting on the school bleachers, and I kept hearing noises", I said simply.

She seemed to think about it for a minute.

"Noises?" she asked confused.

"Yeah, like branches were breaking, stuff like that", I shut my eyes as I replied.

She laughed quietly. "He kept running into trees and causing some of the branches to break, apparently he doesn't see very well in the dark".

I chuckled.

She shifted her blanket so that half of her left arm stuck out. I removed my left glove and took her hand. We both sat there staring out the balcony doors, saying nothing; but regardless, we were content with the little contact we had with each other. And though neither of us voiced it, we knew it couldn't possibly last.

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(A/N:) I thought this chapter was going to be really good, considering that I was up til' 6 A.M. working on it. But I guess I'm just a bit rusty. XD Please R&R. No Flames. Have any questions, let me know!


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